Counseling training breakthrough

Since early summer I have been meeting with a group every Monday evening in our home to go through some training that has just recently become available in Russian in prayer ministry. I like prayer ministry, though not to the exclusion of other kinds of counseling (which I also teach) because it is a way of allowing the Holy Spirit to directly speak to the issue a person is facing. It also can have a very quick and dramatic impact on the person for the same reason. More information about it is here.

The plan is to take a year to go through a video series, twice, and to practice together with each other to gain confidence and build the skills and sensitivity to God's leading as we go. Some of the students just started in October, but I decided we were already ready for some work in groups last week. I put them in sets of 3 to practice asking good questions of each other. What amazed me was that, in every group, they went beyond what I had asked or expected, and they started really ministering to each other with some wonderful results.

Here are the comments of one person taking the training, who is on staff at the Harbor:

Generally I am very glad that there is such a ministry! There is an opportunity to communicate with like-minded people!
1. It helps me better understand God and how He acts.
2. I'd become aware that people actually can help more often than we think
3. In some cases, I have the freedom to help myself [through prayer]
4. If I had small children, I could save them from many false beliefs that could have an adverse affect on them
5. In me was more understanding, compassion for others. I think more about how what you say or do can affect others.

Another long-time student of mine wrote this to me:

These classes helped me find inner peace, which helps me in ministering to people and understanding God. Spiritual Formation becomes more understandable when you take no responsibility for others' feelings. Pessimistic Christianity rejects feelings as not necessary and too elementary for spiritual life. In fact, the more you realize that God will heal, the more you want to serve Him. I realized that only God can enter into the past and heal wounds. This affects all spheres of life. I have become more confident, can understand people better, and hopefully cam help them learn more effectively. Thank you, Lyle, and the people who sponsor you, because we are able to understand better God's healing and His ministry to people. Thank you very much. God bless you!

The need for Russian adoptions

It's too early to spill the beans, but MIR is about to undergo some big changes, and I am excited about the potential to take the ministry to another level of effectiveness and impact in the city. Meanwhile, I'll put out some teasers to seed vision for what is needed as we move forward with these changes.

This is a quote from a site about a ministry called Light of Love that I don't know but need to get to know soon. They are interested in the question of preparing Russian families for foster care and adoption. So is MIR - not directly, but in helping foster momentum, training, and networks to that end. Here are some data that support the need:

In January, 2007 the Russian government enacted a law that is significantly impacting orphans. It calls for overhauling the country’s child welfare system by shifting from an orphanage system to a foster care/adoption system. Ideally, this is a positive step because clearly it is better for orphans to be in families than in institutions. However, there are some key roadblocks:

1) The timing: the government plans on closing down 70% of orphanages in the next 3 years. There are over 800,000 orphans in institutions in Russia. It is not feasible to successfully place that number of children into families in such a short timeframe.

2) The lack of screening: The Russian government is doing very little to screen potential foster / adoptive families, and is instead offering a lump sum of money up front to anyone who will take in a child.

3) The lack of training: The Russian government is providing very little in the way of foster parent or pre-adoption training to interested families.

Additionally, as orphanages are being closed, international adoptions from Russia have virtually come to a halt. The combination of these two events puts Russian orphans in a desperate situation. It is critical that stable Russian families become equipped to adopt and foster orphans.

Mere MIR

I should give you a better idea of what I am doing at MIR and at least a sense of what impact my efforts are having, although it is still early to see much fruit. I have been spending about a day a week there since April. My early history with MIR is recounted here. Recently, Masha, the executive director, wrote some about what she has appreciated about my service there:

-Lyle helped me to articulate my concers, suggestiona and conclusions better for the Board and our partners at the time I was under much stress and emotion-Lyle was there during a very difficult key conference phonecall with our partner's board, guiding and summing things up
-Lyle accompanied me to Estonia for a meeting with directors and officials who really needed to hear the truth about our program after much confusion
-Lyle put the services of MIR in a very clever chart and edited the current agreement of mutual cooperation form, so it corresponds with our current situation better
All of these as much as being stressful were also good learning experiences where I could see how to react in stressful situation, be able to see above the current conflict, invite God in at the rush of the moment.

I'm always looking forward to our visits even if I'm in a difficult state, because talking it through has potential for getting out of a deadend.

I'm still learning how to prioritize things, how to chose what to focus on, how to plan our training session topics ahead to make them more productive in shorter time and how to invite God into my life. Clearly Lyle has contributed to these areas of my growth.

MIR is in a unique position in the city as a hub for discussion and activity around care of at-risk children generally, and orphans particularly. Despite going through a tough season right now, I see a lot of potential for emerging from this time as an even stronger player who can serve in a key role between ministries, orphanages, churches, and Western organizations and volunteers. So the days ahead are a time for re-defining who MIR is -the mere MIR - and seeking God's path forward. To that end, pray with us.